Brandywine, MD - The state of Maryland is facing a federal civil rights complaint over approval of a gas-fired power plant in Brandywine. Earthjustice said the state is required under Title VI to consider whether there would be an "unjustified and unequal" impact on the basis of race.

Neal Gormley, senior associate attorney with Earthjustice, said that law was violated.

"The Maryland agencies that decided that this plant should be built are putting a bunch of pollution sources into a community that's 75 percent black, while whiter communities get cleaner air," he said.

The power plant would be built by Mattawoman Energy, which bills it as a clean natural-gas plant that would power hundreds of thousands of homes. The complaint was filed with the offices of civil rights at the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Gormley said residents weren't adequately informed about plans to build the 990-megawatt plant.

"There are multiple power plants, all being planned to be built simultaneously in this community, for a total of five large fossil-fuel-fired power plants in the area of this one town," he added. "So people in the local community were confused, to be honest, as anyone would be, and couldn't really keep track of all these different projects."

The complaint was filed on behalf of Brandywine TB Coalition and Patuxent RiverKeeper.

Gormley said they're worried about pollution, traffic, depressed property values and health.

"Prince George's County already has unhealthy air," he added. "It violates national standards for ozone pollution, ground-level ozone, which is well understood to contribute to asthma, other respiratory problems and even premature death."

One in six black children has asthma, the highest of any racial group in the United States. The Maryland Department of Health said African-Americans in the state are nearly 2.5 times more likely to die from asthma.



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New York elected officials are calling on the General Assembly to pass legislation to transition new buildings off fossil fuels, saying it would make the state cleaner and healthier.

The All-Electric Building Act would require new buildings to have all-electric appliances for space and water heating and cooking by 2023. It also would mandate state agencies to identify policies to make electricity more affordable and accessible for low-income residents.

Dominic Frongillo, co-Founder of Elected Officials to Protect America, said it is about saving lives and money.

"Right here in New York, air pollution from burning gas and buildings leads to about 1,000 deaths a year and most of those are in communities of color," Frongillo reported. "It's a real, real harm to our public health."

New York burns more fossil fuels in its buildings than any state in the country. Research shows an all-electric home in New York City would save households $6,800 over the course of 15 years.

The bill received a hearing last week and must be passed by the end of the legislative session June 2.

William Reinhardt, an Albany County legislator, and a former professional energy analyst with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said in the long run, it makes the most sense economically to introduce new technologies through new construction.

"If you compare an all-electric building, new construction now, to a fossil-fuel building with central air conditioning, again new construction, so we are comparing apples to apples, the all-electric building is actually cheaper," Reinhardt pointed out.

Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019, New York is mandating 70% of all electricity generated in New York be from renewable sources by 2030. Officials say getting all newly-constructed buildings to be fossil fuel-free is key to achieving the goal.

CORRECTION: Enbridge is proposing a rerouting of its existing Line 5. An earlier version incorrectly stated the project involved an expansion. (2:40 p.m. MST, May 17, 2022)

It's been a year since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's order to close the Line 5 pipelines was supposed to take effect - but the pipeline system is still operating, and its company Enbridge Energy is proposing a reroute.

The reroute would take Line 5 through hundreds of waterways in Michigan and Wisconsin, and the company also plans to build a tunnel around the existing pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac.

Jannan Cornstalk is director of the Water is Life festival and a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. She is among those who signed a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, asking them to reject permits for expanding Line 5.

"Our community is a tribal fishing community," said Cornstalk. "If and when the pipeline breaks anywhere along the line, it will affect so many tributaries, inland streams, lakes, not just the Straits."

According to the National Wildlife Federation, Line 5 leaked 29 times from 1968 to 2017.

A company spokesperson said an estimated $46 million dollars will be spent with Native-owned businesses and communities for the rerouting, and the project is undergoing reviews by state and federal regulators.

The integrity of those reviews has been questioned by tribal leaders and environmental groups.

Bill Latka is one of the co-founders of the coalition Oil and Water Don't Mix. He pointed to research that shows anchor strikes are the most likely way that the pipelines could rupture.

"It's located in the middle of a business shipping channel," said Latka. "And when you put those two things - pipelines and anchors - next to each other, it's bound to happen. There's bound to be a rupture."

Cornstalk added that it's important for the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies responsible for issuing permits to consult with Tribal Nations that have been stewards of the land for centuries.

"As tribal people, it's like we need to be included in the conversation, immediately have consultation from the beginning," said Cornstalk, "because we are supposed to have a government-to-government relationship, and many times that doesn't happen."

Electric vehicle (EV) industry leaders in Michigan are touting the state's progress toward electrifying the transportation sector and improving infrastructure.

With funding coming in from the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, they stressed the transition is an opportunity for Michigan, as a major hub of automobile production.

Minoj Karwa, vice president of worldwide sales for Dearborn-based Rhombus Energy Solutions, said technological, supply-chain and manufacturing innovations make it a big moment for creating jobs, and for getting EVs to consumers.

"The vehicles are here. They're available. Not just high-end luxury vehicles. Not just passenger cars," Karwa observed. "We're working on providing infrastructure for transit buses, school buses, garbage trucks, last-mile delivery, off-road. It's tremendous."

Karwa was a panelist in a roundtable discussion hosted by Clean Fuels Michigan and the Environmental Defense Fund. He pointed out his company has pioneered a direct current charger known as "vehicle-to-grid," meaning unused energy when users plug in at night can be restored to the power grid for use elsewhere.

Natalia Swalnick, director of government affairs for ROUSH CleanTech in Livonia, noted as states work to transition to electric vehicles, it is also important to clean up the power grid. She noted across the U.S., some utilities are using more renewable energy, while others still rely mostly on fossil fuels.

"And an electric vehicle, the thing that's great about it is it's the only vehicle that gets cleaner the more you drive it," Swalnick emphasized. "Because more utilities across the United States do have a commitment to moving to cleaner sources of energy as time goes on."

Terry Travis, co-founder and director of EVHybridNoire, a national network of diverse electric-vehicle drivers and enthusiasts, said it is key to reach out to let the public know about EV benefits, from reduced air pollution to a smoother drive.

"There's an opportunity for folks in urban cores, and rural communities and BIPOC communities, to really be at the crosshairs of a transformational way of thinking about mobility and transportation," Travis asserted. "Hopefully, those communities will also be the beneficiaries of some of those jobs."